100
by Chibi Taryn Demon
Summary: A series of 100 word blurbs and short shorts featuring everyone's favorite flower girl, Aerith, and the many loves of her life. AerithLeon, Cloud, Marluxia, Sephiroth, etc. 13: She knew the fast tattoo of Aerith’s heartbeat matched her own.
1. Rain

100 Blurbs (Aerith/everyone drabbles)

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Author's Notes: Hey everyone! I'm new to KH, but I'm an obsessive FFVII and AC fan…so I would have gotten here soon enough. These are my meager offerings: 100 100-word drabbles. Drabbles seemed really fun! So here I go. R&R please:3

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Title: Rain (#1)  
Word count: 100  
Pairing: Aerith/Leon  
Rating: PG  
Notes: My first drabble evarz. :3 

The rain falls, and impending winter frosts up the windowpane. She swipes her hand across the icy glass, stares at the rain blurring town into gray smudges. Her persistent smile falters and breaks like glass.

It is hard to smile, she thinks, when even nature is telling you to cry.

A gentle hand on her shoulder: warmth, strength like a lion's paw.

She meets gray eyes. It's okay, they say.

She buries herself gratefully in his embrace as the tears come. She can feel his heartbeat and it matches hers.

The rain still falls, but she is not cold anymore.


	2. Making Cupcakes

Title: Making Cupcakes (#2)  
Word count: 99  
Pairing: Aerith/Yuffie  
Rating: M?  
Notes: Fluffy yuri warning.

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Yuffie loves sugar. It is light and fun and reminds her of love.

She smells deliciousness and bolts for the kitchen. Pink-aproned, flour-dusted Aerith waits for her there with a tray of chocolate cupcakes. Yuffie thanks her around mouthfuls, licking her fingers happily. The cupcakes disappear too quickly, leaving Yuffie's sugar craving unsatiated.

She spots the dollop of vanilla frosting on Aerith's cheek. Grinning cheekily, she pounces, forcing Aerith to the floor. Yuffie licks it away slowly before giving her a sugary kiss on the mouth. Aerith's lips are soft, like the center of her cupcakes.

Sweet, murmurs Yuffie.


	3. In Sickness

Title: In Sickness (#3)  
Word count: 100  
Pairing: Aerith/Leon  
Rating: G  
Notes: Enjoy!

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Leon coughs and flops over in bed restlessly, face flushed. His throat burns. A gentle knock on the door startles him

Aerith steps inside, carrying a tray laden with soup, crackers and tea. Leon struggles to sit up in bed, to appear strong, not sickly. Aerith smiles gently at him, sits down on the bed near his shoulders.

How do you feel, she asks as her hand sweeps away his sticky bangs, fluffs his pillow, cups his heated cheek. He closes his eyes dazedly; her fingers feel like cool water.

A small smile graces his face.

Better already, he says.


	4. Checkmate

Title: Checkmate (#4)  
Word count: 115  
Pairing: Cloud/Aerith/Leon  
Rating: PG  
Notes: Subtle.

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He had tried and tried to teach her. She was smart, he knew, and remembered the rules: pawn moves one space, knight in an L-shape, rook diagonally, and so on. 

And yet she never won a game against him. Her green eyes calculated moves, but she habitually took the path that saved pieces for the next turn—even at the risk of losing the game entirely. Aerith could not shake her habit of mourning every piece, the cost of each pawn a sad sigh.

She just couldn't let go, Squall mused. Large, tanned fingers grasped his rook and pinned her queen.

So, he supposed, he would have to take what he could, and be grateful.


	5. Dandelions

Title: Dandelions (#5)  
Words: 132 (eek)  
Pairing: Aerith/Marluxia  
Rating: G  
Notes: I'm unfamiliar with KHII, so I apologize in advance for Marluxia should he be way OOC.

* * *

Aerith sensed him before she ever saw him. 

"Well, are you going to come out?" Shedidn't look up as he stepped into the light, scythe held lazily.

"This is not your planet, yet these flowers trust you," he said. "How?" His voice wasn't threatening, but cold.

"I treat them like my friends. I take care of them, protect them, love them." Aerith grinned, unafraid, and stood up with a dandelion in her hands. She blew at it, sending the feathery seeds floating, before turning and walking away. The flowers sighed at her passing.

Marluxia involuntarily reached out and grasped at some of the seeds, watching as they slid through his fingers.

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to be loved by someone like her. In this lifetime, he would never know.


	6. Planting

Title: Planting (#6)  
Word count: 101  
Pairing: Aerith/Marluxia  
Rating: T  
Notes: This one came out...odd. But thanks for the reviews! I'm having way too much fun with these, so expect a lot more to come.

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"You're overwatering again," she chided. He glared at her.

"If you didn't pack the soil so tightly, I wouldn't have to water them this much," he shot back.

She leaned back on her heels, watching him work in her garden with his precise, gentle movements. He studiously ignored her, but felt his face reddening.

"You'll make a good father," she said, smiling. Marluxia snorted, though the place where his heart would be ached.

"And it's a good thing, too," Aerith continued, green eyes glowing as she reached out to brush away his pinkish bangs. "Because I've got something to tell you…"


	7. Nighttime

Title: Nighttime (#7)  
Word count: 116  
Pairing: Aerith/Leon  
Rating: T  
Notes: Inspired by the song "What If You," by Joshua Radin, and written for Summoner Luna, who has great taste in Aerith pairings. :3

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Every day, the same pretense: Aerith and Leon were friends, members of the Restoration Committee, fellow refugees, nothing more. 

But every night, he pretended to sleep until he heard the telltale creak of his door. He kept his eyes closed.

A feather-light touch on his cheek, then the brush of lips against his. His arms came up to pull her against him as their kisses grew heated.

"When?" He asked her, every night._ When can we stop hiding._

"I can't hurt Cloud like that," she whispered into his mouth, even as she shed her nightgown. _Never_.

Every morning he hoped to find her still lying beside him. Like his hope, she was gone with the sunrise.


	8. Memories, Part I

Title: Memories, Part I (#8)  
Word count: 577 (arg!)  
Rating: T  
Pairing: Aerith/Sephiroth  
Notes: For gmsephiroth. This one's a bit longer, and will, at some point, have a second part. Hope you like it!

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Sephiroth sat on the empty bleacher, basking in his lastest Coliseum win. He closed his eyes, heard admirers murmuring compliments to him. A smirk curled his lips. They were all too afraid to approach him—as they should be. Even he wasn't quite sure what he was, but he knew it was something not quite _human_.

A soft cough prompted him to open his eyes. A young woman stood before him, dressed in pink. From the top of her cinnamon-haired head to her booted feet, she radiated Light. The purity shining from her was almost painful, burning so brightly that his own Darkness seemed unending. Sephiroth scowled at her, expecting her to flee, but instead she giggled.

"Yes?" His voice was flat, acidic. He didn't want to be bothered, and this girl was a dunce if she couldn't figure that out.

"Sephiroth," she said, and her warm voice trigged something in him. He frowned; couldn't help but wonder if he'd seen her somewhere before. But where? Certainly not Athens, and he rarely traveled; the Coliseum and its battles were all he knew…

His memory registered glass, shell, blue water, but the disparate images vanished like smoke when he tried to focus on them. The woman was staring at him expectantly, her peridot eyes depthless. Did she know him too?

_Nonsense._

"I just wanted to say congratulations for your victory." She extended a white, star-shaped flower towards him. A sweet, heavy scent drifted from it. He hesitated, then plucked it from her hand, debating whether to crush it or set fire to it or just keep it. He settled for placing it on the bench next to him.

"Anything else?" Sephiroth allowed the irritation to seep into his velvet voice; again, the woman was unafraid, her posture easy and natural.

"Yes, there is," she said decisively. "And you'll think I'm crazy, but I really do believe—I've met you before. Before the Heartless came." She hugged herself, as though cold, but didn't look away. "I can't remember how, or where, but I know it's true."

Sephiroth normally would have dismissed such as the ramblings of a stalker (of which he'd had more than his fair share), but he couldn't deny the odd pull he felt when he met those green eyes, so similar to his own.

"I've had dreams about you…strange dreams," she murmured, lost. Then she snapped back to attention and realized what she said; Sephiroth's eyebrows raised and a suggestive smirk decorated his lips. A pretty blush spread across her face, and she coughed at the loaded silence that fell between them.

"Aerith! Come on!" he heard someone, that ninja, yell.

The girl, regaining her composure, smiled at him and said quietly, "Anyway, if you're ever in Traverse Town, please stop by the Inn to say hello." She wiggled her fingers at him and trotted off to join her friends.

"Flower girl!" He called after her. Sephiroth nodded at her once more, a thank you in the only way he knew to say it. A brilliant smile lit her face, and she waved again before reaching the ninja and Leonheart—who, he was amused to note, glared back at him.

Sephiroth took a deep inhale of the flower's scent; it smelled like earth and springtime and a little bit like death.

_Traverse Town…_Sephiroth thought, twirling the flower's stem idly. Well, the Coliseum had been rather boring lately—perhaps it was time for a vacation after all.


	9. Sense Less

Title: Sense Less (#9)  
Word count: 303  
Pairing: Aerith/Riku  
Rating: T  
Notes: For moogledaime! Sorry for the OOC-ness? I also think you can tell I was hungry when I wrote this.

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The scent of sadness clung to her like cherry blossoms. That was what initially drew his attention. With the black silk blindfold shielding the world from his unworthy eyes, Riku's other senses had sharpened so intensely he didn't even miss his sight. Instead of assessing others based on their physical appearances, he read vibrations in the air around them, their scents, their voices.

Most people felt mundane to him; their auras like flour or gunpowder or rainwater, the everyday of Traverse Town. But hers—a deep sadness that seemed to emanate from her very marrow—was so sweet and strong it made him feel dizzy. She was waiting for someone, just like he was, and he became addicted to the taste of her pain.

Riku was her silver-burnished shadow, trailing her as she went to the market, listening as she teased her friends, sightlessly watching over her as she slept. Her Light blazed like a beacon, and he got the feeling that if he weren't blindfolded that Light would have put out his eyes. Her voice rang like silver bells, but he could hear the tears lurking beneath—and increasingly, wanted to be the one that she wept for, the one she waited for.

When he finally worked up enough courage to touch her one night—that heady scent driving him _mad_ now—her skin was as smooth as almond milk. Riku's bare hand ghosted over her eyelashes, her cheek, her lips, and he jolted when he felt her hand grasp his.

"It's alright," he heard Aerith say. He could feel her gaze trail lovingly like fingertips over his hair and face.

"You can stay. We can wait together," she whispered.

"I'm done waiting," he said, voice so much harsher than hers that he blanched.

She smoothed the fabric over his eyes. "Then I'll hold you until you move on."

When he kissed her, she tasted like pomegranates and honey, and not at all like regret.


	10. Romeo and Juliet

Title: Romeo and Juliet (#10)  
Word count: 269  
Pairing: Aerith/???  
Rating: T  
Notes: This definitely stands as the hardest one to write so far. Another for moogledaime!

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Aerith leaned her head on her knees. She hated fighting with the others and rarely did it, but then again they rarely infuriated her to the extent they had today. She'd brought over her new boyfriend for dinner; Leon, Cid and Yuffie had tolerated him while he'd been there, but as soon as he left they started in on her. 

_What were you thinking, Aerith? You're really losing it. _

_An' hey, what about Cloud?_

_Aerith, gross! _

She sniffled and squeezed her eyes shut. They didn't understand. If they would only give him a chance, they'd see what she saw: He was hard-working, yet sweet and playful and always made time for her (unlike Cloud). He was happy enough on his own that he didn't need her to be his pillar of support. They couldn't let go of their image of sweet, happy, _lonely_ Aerith, and that was what their real problem was.

A tap on the window drew her attention. Aerith ran over, and as she expected, he was there. She opened the window and he leapt inside. Seeing the tears drying on her face, he gently touched her cheek.

"What's wrong?"

She sighed. "The others—they don't like our relationship." He gave her a sad, lopsided smile. They were interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Aerith? I'm coming in." Cloud's quiet voice filtered through the wood. "Leon said I needed to speak with you."

She and her boyfriend shared a panicked look. "Cloud, wait—"

The door opened, and Cloud stood there, looking worried. His expression quickly melted into confusion.

"Aerith, what's a moogle doing in here?"

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A/N: Did you guess who it was? 


	11. Dressing Down

Title: Dressing Down (#11)  
Word count: 396  
Pairing: Aerith/Leon  
Rating: M  
Notes: Because this pairing just doesn't get enough love. :3 Dedicated to all of my wonderful reviewers! Thanks and Merry Christmas!

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There were many, many benefits to dating Aerith. Going shopping with her was not one of them. Her usual adorable type of dreaminess suddenly translated into indecisiveness bordering on insanity; she could debate the merits of a skirt with lace versus the same skirt without lace, with herself, for hours.

Leon watched as the green-eyed girl disappeared once more into her dressing room, a bundle of dresses in her arms. His back ached in the uncomfortable chair, but he dared not complain. When he'd asked an hour or so ago if she planned on buying something this _century_, she'd stuck her head out the door and literally growled at him.

Leon suppressed a chuckle. Even when she was angry, she was gorgeous—eyes flashing, pink lips in a tight moue of displeasure, hair in wild disarray, chest heaving. His eyes glazed over as he began reliving the night before, when she'd surprised him in the shower…

Lost in his thoughts, Leon failed to notice Aerith's emergence from the dressing room, clad in a blue and white sundress and talking a mile a minute about the cut, the fabric and its "breathability," the color, the fit.

"Hmm, so what do you think, Leon? Leon?" Aerith finally craned her neck to look at him and saw that he hadn't been listening to a word she'd said. "Leon!"

He jolted, then looked up at her guiltily. "Yes, honey?"

She smirked. "I was asking what you thought about this dress on me." He stood, stretched languorously, and strode over to her. Aerith felt her heart beat a rapid tattoo against her chest under his heavy, blue-gray gaze. It still amazed her sometimes that this gorgeous, intense man wanted _her_.

Leon leaned in close, lips grazing her ear, and whispered: "It looks amazing on you. But you'd look even better with it off."

Giggling, she pushed him away; her cheeks a rosy shade of pink. Deliberately, she sauntered into the dressing room and began to slip the dress's straps from her shoulders, watching him watching her. When the bodice slowly began to fall away from her body, Aerith—_terrible tease_—slammed the door shut.

Or tried to. Leon's foot held the door open. Fiercely-heated gazes locked, and Leon kicked the door shut behind him.

And as Aerith panted and gasped into his hair, Leon murmured, "Can we go shopping again tomorrow?"

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A/N: I was considering being naughty and actually making a drabble/oneshot (drabbleshots?) with the details of what happens in the dressing room. What do you think?


	12. Possession

Title: Possession (#12)  
Word count: 209  
Pairing: Aerith/Sephiroth  
Notes: For everyone who liked the last Aeriseph one, especially the amazing Ardwynna. Creepy because I felt like writing some creepy love.

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Cloud arrived, and fear tinged Aerith's happiness, because she knew—if Cloud could find her, it wouldn't be long before _he_ found her as well.

Sephiroth arrived a night after Cloud left. She awoke to find him at the foot of her bed. He moved before she could scream, hand over her mouth.

"Flower girl," he purred. "I've killed you before, have I not?" He released her mouth, sliding his hands to her neck.

"Yes." Her voice quavered. His hands clasped around her throat, thumbs meeting in the middle. Her skin looked like alabaster against his black leather gloves.

Tears dotted her lashes as he gave her throat an experimental, almost loving squeeze.

"Are you going to kill me again?" Aerith whispered, the silence unbearable.

"No," said Sephiroth, feeling her exhale in relief. He squeezed again, warningly, before leaning close. "Because I've realized something in the time we've been apart, flower girl."

"What?" She gasped, the edges of her vision fuzzing as he suddenly applied more pressure to her throat. His lips brushed hers, cold and smooth.

"Your pain," Sephiroth murmured, "makes me whole."

The last thing she saw before blacking out were his eyes burning through her.

Prize thrown over his shoulder, Sephiroth melted back into the darkness.


	13. Serenade

Title: Serenade (#13)  
Pairing: Aerith/Tifa  
Word count: 506  
Rating: G  
Notes: For SecretBox, a writer of beautifully-written Aerith pairings. Sorry for the wait, and hope you like it!

* * *

Tifa unlocked her front door and nearly leapt when she saw someone already inside.

"Sorry! I got bored waiting so I let myself in," Aerith giggled, sitting on the bench in front of Tifa's old-fashioned mahogany piano. She swung her legs like a child would.

"So I see," Tifa smiled back before glancing at the sheet music neatly arranged on the stand—just like she'd left it.

_I'm safe. But I've got to get it away from her before she sees…_

She held out her hand. "Well, come on! You must've been here a while. Let's get you something to drink."

Aerith grasped Tifa's hand in her own, a meeting of smooth and rough. Instead of rising, she pulled Tifa down beside her.

"I'd rather hear you play something," the flower girl said, arranging herself around Tifa, who rubbed the back of her neck.

"Aerith…"

"Please, Tifa?" Aerith pouted, nuzzling the dark haired-girl's shoulder, planting a kiss behind her ear. "Please?"

"Alright," she said, cursing herself for not being able to deny Aerith anything. She tapped the keys, picking out a simple melody.

"Any requests?"

"How about…Aerith's Theme?"

Tifa nearly swallowed her tongue.

"Why didn't you tell me you wrote me a song?" Aerith asked in the ensuing silence, her forehead pressed against Tifa's shoulder.

"What?! I mean, what are you talking about? I didn't write anything." She fiddled with the gloves covering her split knuckles. _Crap, crap, crap._

"Then what's this?" Aerith plucked a sheet of music from the stand and waved it in front of her. _Aerith's Theme_, the title said in Tifa's steady hand. Tifa ripped it away from her, the paper crumpling between her fingers. She didn't have to look to know Aerith was startled, and hurt. She turned her claret eyes down, feeling ashamed.

Aerith bit her lip and touched her lover's face gently.

"You've played me the songs you wrote for Cloud and Yuffie and all the others…why can't I hear mine?"

"Because…it's not good enough," Tifa murmured, ducking away from Aerith's green-eyed gaze. "It'll never be good enough, no matter how many times I rewrite it." _Nothing I do could be worthy enough of you_.

Aerith chuckled, but it was low and wet-sounding; she was close to tears. "Tifa, how could you say that? You know that love isn't about 'being good enough' for someone!"

She gripped Tifa's hands, still on the piano keys. "It's about living to see that person smile…knowing they'd do anything for you…trusting them with your life! And you do, and I do, so nothing else matters."

Tifa pressed Aerith into a fierce hug, feeling at once both protective and desperately weak. God, did she love this girl, able to lift her spirits with a word. She knew the fast tattoo of Aerith's heartbeat matched her own.

They parted. Silently, with same grace she used on the battlefield, Tifa began to play Aerith's Theme, a song reminiscent of clear water and golden sunshine, flowers and pure warmth and love. Of Aerith.

In unison, they smiled.


	14. Red

Title: Red (#14)  
Pairing: Aerith/Axel  
Word count: 170  
Rating: T  
Notes: For ninja.sora! This went through a few incarnations; I found Axel rather challenging to write. Enjoy!

* * *

Between long strands of flame-red hair, Axel drew away from Aerith to survey his handiwork. Her eyes were closed, mouth open and gasping. He smirked and poked her cheeks.

"You're blushing."

"Am not," she panted.

"Are too."

"Am—HEY!"

He tickled Aerith until she hiccupped, normally-graceful limbs flailing. Finally she squirmed away from him, wrapping herself in the sheet to protect from his quick fingers.

"You shouldn't embarrass a lady like that," she murmured, smoothing down her tangled curls. He cupped her face with both hands, leaned in close...

"You're blushing again." He sing-songed.

"Oooh—you're awful!" Aerith rolled over and buried her head beneath a pillow. Axel kissed the spot between her shoulder blades, felt her shift beneath him.

"It's okay," he whispered. "I was going to say that I like red on you."

Aerith chuckled, turned a little to look at the entwined pieces of cinnamon and scarlet on the pillow.

"So glad to hear it, you egomaniac," she teased, before his mouth descended on hers once more.


End file.
